"You're using the city and people as shields." Emil said half confidently to Jasmine who sat to her left. She was dressed in a light velvet gown.

They were outside, round a small table, having finished a meal and had moved on to dessert.

A gust of wind blew and there was a faint distant tingle of a bell, creating a scene of profound calmness under the sun.

Jasmine leaned back, cutting a piece of lemon cake, and glanced at Alia with a smile.

"Finally using your mind path abilities?" He asked.

He was dressed in a loose, white linen shirt, with black trousers and sandals.

Aelia's chewing slowed down as her brow slightly pinched, remembering the conversation they'd had with Shey and Emil on their horseride.

"I thought I'd ask for confirmation." Emil said.

Jasmine's black hair danced to every puff of wind.

"How'd you come to that conclusion?"

Emil pondered for a moment. She knew he was testing her.

"We're on the losing side." She said, "Of the eleven free cities, Carmine only has three, while Myriel has six already, and the other two are only further south."

With her finger tapping her knee underneath the table, she paused before saying, "And of those three, only our hometown Beldin had the capacity for a Viscount."

The eastern free cities had adopted some of the titles from the central and western human monarchies.

Beldin, with a population of approximately twenty six million people, had the twins' father as a Viscount, with two Barons beneath him.

Jasmine cut his cake.

"We aren't on the losing side." He said, "We're simply on the side that started late."

Aelia frowned, wondering what she could add.

Emil pushed strands of her white hair from her eyes.

There was a moment of silence before Emil asked.

"Can the Sisteron sorcerers be trusted?" She asked, referring to Lys, who was part of the Sisteron, a group of witches who had a history of not getting along with Mages.

"No," Jasmine said, "but, for an equivalent exchange, they can play their part."

"And what's that?" Aelia blurted out.

Jasmine smiled at her. "Not yet." He said.

"So, the oath ritual is unique to Carmine?" Emil probed.

Jasmine placed his spoon and knife gently on the table, seemingly done with his half eaten lemon cake.

"Well, when you start late, you need a.... Catapult." He said.

"Our neighbor won't have much patience for long." Emil said.

"Oh, I think she's already run out of that." Jasmine said.

"And if the commoners and Cities are important to Carmine, then surely, they are for Myriel too, Hence the meat shields."

Using her mind path abilities, Emil had been making connections, even with the little information Jasmine gave.

"The oath will make sure we fight.... " she muttered, speaking more to herself at that point than to Jasmine.

"You don't need the oath for that." Jasmine said, "You would get reduced to cores otherwise. You should know the pandemonium realms have only grown rarer. It's clear what path of ascension is being set."

Aper from the blowing wind fluttering their lose clothes, there was a moment of silence.

"Why did our father agree?"

"Because unlike Gritjor's previous Baron, he understood you could make promises to only so many people." Jasmine's head slightly tilted to the left, "Of course, I imagine the most important reason is for you."

Emil glanced at her cake for a moment, then turned to Jasmine to speak, but her mouth was left opened.

He wasn't there anymore.

"I would be doing that too if I could." Aelia said. She then turned to Emil, "Why didn't you previously tell me your suspicions?"

"I asked him with you here, didn't I?"

"Still," Aelia frowned.

Studying her sister's face, Emil's lips pressed before she spoke.

"You're right." She said, "I shouldn't keep things from you. It's just that, ever since I awakened in the mind path, my obsession with being right has only grown."

"You're embarrassed to come to me with wrong information?" Emil's eyes lifted from her plate to Emil, then a smile played on her lips, "Or you've grown jealous of me and Shey."

Emil reached across the small table and placed her right hand on Aelia's hand gently.

"Why would I be jealous of two idiots?"

Aelia pulled her hand back and giggled.

In the next moment, her face took on a serious look.

"What did he mean our neighbour has run out of patience?" She asked.

Emil placed both her elbows on the desk and she frowned.

"An offensive soon."

…

Looking up at the afternoon sun, Hadrian sighed.

He'd come from a short rest after carrying the fog from that space and wrapping it around himself.

He'd been circling around, headed for a spot on the city wall that had been marked on the map.

If he was heading back into the city, he might as well see what it was about, killing two birds with one stone.

Suddenly, Lizard creature Hadrian's ears spiked as it picked up distant sounds.

Channeling force path essence, his hearing narrowed in on the sounds.

It was a distant rumbling, shuffling of clothes and bristling of the dead vegetation on the ground.

Focusing, he also heard a faint whirling sound. However, it didn't come from the direction of the marching feet, but from up above.

Lizard Hadrian looked up and his yellow vertical eyes narrowed on a figure dressed in green robes flying in the air, up past the trees.

Hadrian's heart tightened.

A powerful mage!

Creature Hadrian backed up when suddenly, the ground beneath him moved, stabbing him right in his chest.

He was then carried up fast by the split earth, striking branches and leaves, coming to a stop three metres in front of the flying mage.

Since this height went past Hadrian's control range, he'd slowly lost control of the creature, its vision getting blurry and dark at the edges, but he stayed long enough to catch a glimpse of the mage.

She had short black hair, a hard cut but still pretty face, and the air distorted around her in a whirlwind shape.

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